Man accused of St. Pat’s murder formally indicted
TRENTON » Howard Buckalew will have his day in court.
A Mercer County grand jury indicted the 52-yearold Ewing Township man on Wednesday on one count for first-degree aggravated manslaughter for his role in the March 24 beating death of 58-year-old Jeffrey Pageau at a Hamilton Saint Patrick’s Day Parade house party, prosecutors announced.
At approximately 8:30 p.m. on the day of the parade, police responded to the first block of Hartman Drive and found Pageau bleeding from his head and laying on a cement patio at the rear of the residence.
Pageau, 58, died March 31 at Capital Health Regional Medical Center in Trenton due to the skull fractures he suffered in the assault. Buckalew was charged with aggravated manslaughter after multiple witnesses said he went buck wild in the unprovoked fatal attack, prosecutors said.
Witnesses told police that Buckalew got into an altercation with Pageau and “physically drove him off the porch, causing him to fall onto the cement patio and strike his head,” prosecutors said.
In a video-recorded statement with police, Buckalew said he acted in self-defense and accused Pageau of being the aggressor.
Before fleeing with his girlfriend, Buckalew earlier in the day displayed erratic behavior at the Hartman Drive household and was driving passengers in his new truck at high rates of speed, according to statements made in court.
The Trentonian previously reported that road rage may have sparked the fatal attack. Pageau, according to sources, confronted Buckalew about speeding erratically through the township neighborhood, telling him he was going to strike playing children if he didn’t slow down.
The prosecution and defense both say alcohol was involved, but the prosecutor in the case said Buckalew provided a “self-serving statement” to police saying “he was attacked by the victim, which contradicts all the other witness statements.”
Buckalew “specifically approached the victim without any apparent provocation and began to have words with the victim,” Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor Michael Borgos said at an April detention hearing.
Buckalew shouted, “F--you!” in his verbal altercation with Pageau and then grabbed the victim and began to slam him against the kitchen cabinets at least three times and then forced the victim outside through a rear door, Borgos said, adding the victim fell onto the concrete in the patio area with Buckalew landing on top and slamming the victim’s head into the ground multiple times.
Buckalew remains locked up at the Mercer County Correction Center pending the outcome of the case.